Association of Increasing Frailty with Detrimental Outcomes after Pancreatic Resection

Abstract

An association between detrimental outcomes and frailty has been documented; however, the impact specific to pancreatic surgery is unknown. Using NSQIP data, patients were classified as non-, mildly, moderately, or severely frail. A total of 16,028 patients were included in the study; most of the patients were white (78.5%) and underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) (67%). Complications occurred in 17.6 per cent cases, and the median length of stay (LOS) was 11.89 days. Prolonged LOS and mortality occurred in 9.1 and 2.3 per cent of the cases. In the PD group, most of the patients were mildly frail (40.6%), followed by nonfrail (39.83%), whereas in the distal pancreatectomy (DP) group, the majority were nonfrail (43.82%), followed by mildly frail (39.37%) (P < 0.0001). The 30-day complications, mortality, and LOS were significantly higher in patients undergoing PD compared with DP (19.5 vs 14.3%, 2.8 vs 1.2%, and 13.4 vs 8.7 days, respectively; P < 0.0001). PD conferred a significantly higher risk of death in all frailty groups compared with DP [nonfrail: odds ratio (OR) 1.76, mildly frail: OR 1.03, moderately frail: OR 2.03, P < 0.05], with the exception of severely frail patients. Compared with DP, PD conferred a significant risk of complication in all the frailty groups. Increases in frailty are associated with poorer outcomes after pancreatectomy.